Washington, DC - The pan-Armenian genocide resolution took a major step forward today, winning bipartisan support in the influential House International Relations Committee. H. Res. 316, which is currently backed by 140 Members, won passage thanks in part to Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) and the bill's principal sponsors Reps. George Radanovich (R-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Joe Knollenberg(R-MI) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ).

"The argument has been made that these resolutions, if adopted, will be harmful to [the] interests [of the United States] by undermining our relationship with Turkey, which all acknowledge to be one of our key allies.....Denial of that fact cannot be justified on the basis of expediency or fear that speaking the truth will do us harm," said Hyde.

"The Assembly extends its appreciation to Chairman Hyde and members of the Committee for properly recognizing the first genocide of the twentieth century and affirming the U.S. record," Assembly Board of Trustees Chairman Hirair Hovnanian said following the vote. "This recognition, which is especially poignant during this 90th commemorative year, will go a long way in preventing future tragedies and give meaning to the phrase 'Never Again.'"

"We also thank the original sponsors of H. Res. 316 who worked long and hard in helping secure today's victory," Hovnanian added.

Committee Members also voted today to approve, H. Con. Res. 195, a bill that would reaffirm the Armenian Genocide. The measure, which passed 35 to 11, was introduced by Schiff in June.

During the markup Schiff said that there is no discrepancy that the Armenian experience constituted genocide and no evidence that U.S.-Turkish relations would be irreparably harmed by the adoption of these resolutions.

Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA), the Committee's Ranking Member, expressed his strong concern over Ankara's refusal in 2003 to provide U.S. troops a northern front in the war against Iraq and in a reversal, changed his previous opposition to one of support.

Armenian Caucus Member Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) said, "Friends don't let friends commit human rights abuses or crimes against humanity."

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), also a member of the Caucus, stressed the importance of acknowledging history and the fact that the government of the Ottoman Empire attacked its own citizens.

H. Res. 316, which was introduced on June 14, calls upon the President to "ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding" of the "Armenian Genocide" and to "accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide" in the President's annual message.

Passage of this legislation would reaffirm the U.S. historical record which includes thousands of pages documenting the premeditated extermination of the Armenian people. American intervention prevented the full realization of Ottoman Turkey's genocidal plan and U.S. humanitarian assistance was extended to those who survived.

Additionally, today's vote reiterates the same message put forth by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. In 1981, for example, Reagan issues a presidential proclamation that said in part, "Like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it - and like too many other persecutions of too many other people - the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.." President Bush himself has also carefully set forth the textbook definition of the crime of genocide as it applies to Armenians in his successive April 24th statements of remembrance.

H. Res. 316 is similar to the version that nearly passed the House of Representatives in 2000. The previous resolution, which had the support of 143 cosponsors, passed the House International Relations Committee by a vote of 24 to 11. It was later scheduled for a vote on the House floor, but withdrawn at the last minute due to an intervention by President Clinton to Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) which prevented the final affirmative vote.

The Turkish government has vigorously opposed the resolutions by calling upon its hired lobbyists, the Administration and Members of Congress to deny that the genocide occurred. A recent New York Times editorial entitled "The Turkish Identity" also highlights Turkey's state-sponsored denial efforts which include the recent prosecution of novelist Orhan Pamuk for openly discussing the Armenian Genocide. Pamuk has been charged with "public denigration" of the Turkish identity and face a possible three-year jail sentence.

"That court action [against Pamuk] is as wrong as it is incredible," said Armenian Caucus Member Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA). Congressman Dana Rohrabacher added, "This is not a good trend and we should never accept it. We should be on the side of that writer and be on the side of truth."

Board of Directors Chairman Anthony Barsamian praised the Assembly's network of grassroots activists and the community at large for reaching out to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and helping secure bi-partisan support for H. Res. 316.

"Armenian-Americans celebrate this victory, not only for our public advocacy efforts, but for those who dare to speak the truth," said Barsamian. "Today's success demonstrates that engaging our grassroots in the democratic process prevails over the millions spent by Turkey's hired lobbyists to influence decision makers. It is our hope that Speaker Hastert will now follow the example of President Reagan, and more recently, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans, and formally and irrevocably reaffirm the Armenian Genocide."

The next step in the legislative process is to work with the sponsors to secure passage in the full House.

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

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Editor's Note: Attached is the full text of Chairman Henry Hyde's statement.

I have waited to speak until the end of the members' statements because I wanted to listen carefully to what they had to say. I have thought long and hard about these resolutions and have decided to vote in favor. And I want to explain why.

The overriding purpose in all of my work in Congress has been to promote the interests of the United States. The argument has been that these resolutions, if adopted, will be harmful to those interests by undermining our relationship with Turkey, which all acknowledge to be one of our key allies. That is a serious charge indeed and worthy of serious attention. I very much believe that the relationship is of great importance to U.S. and also to the possibility of peace and stability in the volatile regions that Turkey borders. But I do not believe that these resolutions will harm that relationship.

They merely recognize the fact that the authorities of the Ottoman Empire deliberately slaughtered the majority of the Armenian community in that empire. Denial of that fact cannot be justified on the basis of expediency or fear that speaking the truth will do us harm.

Having said this, I want to strongly emphasize that neither the Republic of Turkey nor the Turkish people bear responsibility for the crimes that undoubtedly took place. Too often that inaccurate and even slanderous association is made, either by accident or design, and we must be careful not to give it credence.

I also want to note and commend the Turkish government's recent initiatives to address this issue more forthrightly than has been the practice in the past. These are encouraging signs, and I hope they are but the first in a series of mutual steps.

It is commonly supposed that we must choose between recognizing the fact of the massacres and supporting our relationship with Turkey, that somehow these things are opposed to one another. I believe that not only is that view profoundly incorrect but is actually harmful to all parties.

The deep animosity between Turkey and Armenia is destructive to the interests of both countries, as well as to those of the United States, for they make lasting peace and stability in the Caucasus virtually impossible.

The many barriers between them tower so mightily that they are dispiriting to all but the most resolute.

However, this particular issue is of such profound importance and emotional resonance to both countries that I do not believe that either alone can take the steps needed to overcome its impregnable walls. But to freeze attention on the past is to be imprisoned by it and at the enormous cost of sacrificing the future.

Therefore, I believe it is in the interests of the United States and of Turkey and Armenia both that we take the lead in dealing with this paralyzing legacy. And we must start with a recognition of the truth. For there is no possibility that this problem can ever be overcome if we seek to ground any solution on silence and forgetting. For as our Savior is quoted in the Book of St. John: "You shall know the truth. And the truth shall set you free." That is why I will vote to support these resolutions and do so in the hope that it will contribute to a lasting peace among the peoples of these ancient, tragic, and beautiful lands.